“Cautious optimism, Madam President, is the flavor of the day” -- these were the words of the U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, who briefed the United Nations Security Council on the implementation of resolution 1701. She used them to synopsize the recent government formation process in Lebanon, welcoming both the "promising ministerial agenda" adopted, while noting that Lebanon’s protracted leadership vacuum had left the country’s new administration with just over one year to tackle a series of daunting challenges.

Speaking alongside Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the Special Coordinator provided the Council with an overview of the security situation in the country. While noting that the cessation of hostilities continued to hold, she added that this did not mean that all military activity on Lebanese territory had ceased.

Israeli airstrikes overnight targeted three areas in West Bekaa and the outskirts of Deir Mimas in the South.

The Israeli military said it "struck Hezbollah military sites in which Hezbollah terrorists and weapons were identified."

The government will not resort to writing off deposits but will rather adopt an organized mechanism for returning them gradually, Finance Minister Yassine Jaber has said.

An Israeli drone strike killed one person and wounded three others Monday in the southern town of Yohmor al-Shaqif in the Nabatieh governorate, the Health Ministry and the National News Agency said.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has noted that the FPM supports the abolition of sectarianism, “but not political sectarianism alone.”

Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah said Monday that the people will again defend their land if the state fails to shoulder its responsibilities against the Israeli occupation and violations.

"When the state abandons this (southern) region, the people will take the responsibility and will not accept the occupation," Fadlallah said, adding that the cause of south Lebanon should not be solely the cause of the Shiites and the southerners but a "national cause."

Syria's defense ministry on Sunday accused Lebanon's Hezbollah of abducting three soldiers to Lebanon and killing them there, state media reported, as Hezbollah denied any involvement in clashes.

"A group from the Hezbollah militia kidnapped three members of the Syrian army on the Syrian-Lebanese border before taking them to Lebanese territory and eliminating them," the news agency SANA quoted the defense ministry as saying.

Israel's defense minister said the military responded to stray gunfire from Lebanon Sunday, after Lebanese state media and the health ministry reported four deaths in Israeli strikes on the south.

Lebanon's Druze leader Walid Jumblat on Sunday called on the Druze of Syria to preserve their "Arab identity."

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said Friday that Lebanon won’t accept to give up any inch of its land "under no circumstances", following remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israeli forces will remain on five hills in south Lebanon.

"Lebanon will resort to all possible means to protect its sovereign rights and liberate the land from Israeli occupation," Berri said, adding that preserving Lebanon and the south is a comprehensive national responsibility and must be a point of unity. "If we are united we can overcome any challenge."